(Re)Shaping The Self: The Construction of Identity in Things Fall Apart

Abstract

Postcolonialism incorporates all cultures affected by colonialism from the beginning of colonization to the present day. Aiming to express the ways the colonizer shapes society, postcolonial writers frequently reverse the colonial discourse and maintain that colonized countries have a national identity. In this respect, prominent Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe indicates the effects of colonization on both cultural and individual levels in his works. Besides, he highlights the postcolonial subject in a manner that not only the colonizers but also the colonized find themselves in a situation of ambivalence. The purpose of this study is to present the ways in which the characters in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) are first shaped by the colonizer and later reshaped by the colonized counterpart. The process the characters undergo to achieve integration in society and whether they are liberated is discussed with references to the novel.